Robert D. Novak scoops this weekend: “Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, who was named general chairman of the Republican Party only nine months ago, has advised associates that he will leave the post as soon as somebody clinches the party’s presidential nomination. That probably will come after the Feb. 5 primary elections next year. When Martinez took the party post Jan. 19, it was expected he would stay on through the 2008 elections as the GOP’s principal national spokesman. Many Republicans now grumble that Martinez has been ineffective in that role, partly because he has been drowned out by the many presidential hopefuls. Kentucky lawyer Mike Duncan, who came on board with Martinez as chairman of the Republican National Committee, is expected to remain running day-to-day operations at national party headquarters for the balance of his two- year term.”

The Politico

Ineffective? Try completely useless. I’m just going to be blunt here, Martinez sucks. He was placed there to be nothing more than a Bush lackey.

Now that they have a chance to fix this mistake, installing Michael Steele as the new RNC chairman would be the cure to what ails the GOP.

Wal-Mart Adds Drugs to $4 Program

H/T: boortz.com

While also setting up a special class of victims.

The Senate yesterday approved an expansion of federal hate-crimes law to include protections for gay men and lesbians, defying a presidential veto threat by attaching the measure to a high-priority defense bill.

Republicans said they will try to remove the provision in final negotiations with the House, but if that effort fails, GOP leaders urged President Bush to follow through with his long-standing veto threat. They were furious this week when Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) announced that he would force a vote on an expanded hate-crimes statute, with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) calling Reid’s maneuver a “shameful” attempt to “hijack” essential defense legislation.

H/T: boortz.com

Now that Hillary looks to be marching almost unopposed to the Democratic nomination, she is clearly looking toward the general election. She looks in remarkably strong shape for that contest. Her antagonism of the netroots can only help her in November, and clearly has done little to prevent her nomination. She has consistently refused to pander to the Moveon crowd, rejected firm timetables for troop withdrawals, and taken a small step approach to universal health-care that will probably be successful.

Meanwhile Republicans have shown almost no awareness that there is going to be a general election next fall. So my question is, what is our strategy for winning? I know our guys are all locked in a fiercely competitive primary, but has anyone looked ahead?

To his credit, Romney does seem to show some awareness that we have to be able to articulate a vision of change in the general. Unfortunately he needs to win over a deeply skeptical base first, which has so far shown little enthusiasm for change rhetoric. How do we win when our party so deeply out of touch with the rest of the electorate? The number of people self-identifying as Republican is at an all time low. Self-identified republicans remain largely supportive of Bush, and the war, when the majority of the population is going the other way. To me the only way to win in November is to admit what should be obvious to anyone paying attention, that Bush has been an awful President, and we are essentially starting over from scratch. We have to move the focus off of the blundered entry into the war, and move focus on the only thing that matters right now, ending the war in a responsible way that minimizes the damage to the US and to the region. We are in serious danger of leaving that argument to the democrats, leaving us with stay the course rhetoric that stopped being persuasive several years ago. We need a post surge plan, and we need it now.

But can we square that with a base that still believes in Bush? Is still expecting a “victory” close to what what was originally planned? I believe that if we cannot, 08 is a lost cause, no matter who we nominate.

Anybody else have a better idea?